A General Strategy for the Nickel-Catalyzed C-H Alkylation of Anilines

The C-H alkylation of aniline derivatives with both primary and secondary alkyl halides was achieved with a versatile nickel catalyst of a vicinal diamine ligand. Step-economic access to functionalized 2-pyrimidyl anilines, key structural motifs in anticancer drugs, is thus provided. The C-H functionalization proceeded through facile C-H activation and SET-type C-X bond cleavage with the assistance of a monodentate directing group, which could be removed in a traceless fashion.